Time.news – “I don’t regret it. My dreams are worth it”. So the Belarusian human rights defender, Ales BialiatskiNobel Peace Prize winner, at the award ceremony in Oslo. Bialiatski is still in prison and his speech was read by his wife Natallia Pinchuk.
This year the prize was awarded to human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia: the “Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties”, the Russian “Memorial” and Bialiatski, in fact, who is the president of the Belarusian Center for human rights “Viasna”. “Ales and all of us know how important and risky it is to fulfill the mission of human rights defenders, especially at this tragic moment of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” noted Pinchuk.
Bialiatski e the two organizations were awarded for “promoting the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens”, and also for their efforts in documenting war crimes, human rights violations and power, explained the Nobel jury
“Putin will stop when he is stopped,” CCL head Oleksandra Matviichuk told reporters yesterday at the Nobel Institute.
“Authoritarian leaders… see any attempt at dialogue as a sign of weakness”he added, urging Western countries to continue helping Ukraine liberate Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea.
The CCL has documented war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine over the past eight years, crimes for which Matviichuk wants Russian President Putin and his ally, Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, brought to justice. “This war has a genocidal character,” he said in English.
“If Ukraine stops resisting, there will be none of us left. So I have no doubt that sooner or later Putin will appear before an international tribunal.” Memorial board chairman Yan Rachinsky agreed, though remaining more cautious in his remarks due to sanctions imposed by Moscow to those who criticize the conflict in Ukraine.
“Ukraine must fight for its independence – he said -. Ukraine is not fighting only for its own interests. It is fighting for our common peaceful future”.
The third co-winner, Ales Bialiatski, founder of the rights group Viasna, he has been detained since July 2020 awaiting trial following Minsk’s crackdown on large-scale anti-regime protests.